Harsh weather and power outages meant a snow day for students in the San Bernardino Mountains. Buses sit idle and buried at the elementary school in Running Springs.

City of Riverside maintenance worker Chris Bauman removes debris from a drain to let standing water in a parking flow at Fairmount Park in Riverside on Monday, Jan. 23, 2017.

A man walks along Mission Boulevard in Riverside as a rainbow appears for a brief moment on Monday, Jan. 23, 2017.

City of Riverside maintenance worker George Monsisvais works to remove mud from an entrance of Mount Rubidoux on Monday, Jan. 23, 2017.

Jane Lambert, of Riverside walks around mud that flowed onto the path at Mount Rubidoux in Riverside on Monday, Jan. 23, 2017.

Linda and Tom Hernandez of Riverside walk past a large boulder that slid onto the path on Mount Rubidoux in Riverside on Monday, Jan. 23, 2017.

The Cruz's family dog even got a little muddy on Monday, Jan. 23, 2017 after the weekend rain sent mud into their yard and home in the Good Hope area near Perris.

Tania Bonilla, 19, wrings out a mop full of mud while mopping up a living room at her home on Monday, Jan. 23, 2017 in the Good Hope area near Perris. The weekend rain sent mud flowing into their yard and home.

Obed Cruz, 17, uses a shop vacuum on Monday, Jan. 23, 2017 to clean up the layer of mud that went throughout the house including his sister's room in the Good Hope area near Perris. The weekend rain sent mud flowing into their yard and home.

Traffic on southbound Interstate 15 is almost at a stand-still at the Cajon Pass summit on Monday, January 23, 2017. Heavy snowfall is causing delays thrugh the busy corridor between the High Desert area and the Inland Empire.

A storm made one final hit on Southern California on Monday, delivering downpours, snow, hail and thunderstorms.

But it didn’t match the intensity of Sunday’s storm, giving Inland residents a chance to begin to recuperate.

And the end is in sight. Scattered showers and below-average temperatures are expected today, but “the rest of the week looks awesome,” said Larissa Johnson, meteorological technician with the National Weather Service.

Gov. Jerry Brown on Monday declared a state of emergency in dozens of counties across the state, including San Bernardino, to secure funding to help communities recover from the winter storms.

In the community of Good Hope near Perris on Monday afternoon, the Cruz family glumly mopped and vacuumed their home, which sustained significant flood damage over the weekend.

Furniture and mattresses were stacked in piles, some of them damaged. The tile in the living room and the carpet in some rooms were ruined, and several inches of water stood in the room of Oscar Cruz’s 10-year-old daughter.

“We’ve been flooded like four times, but this was the worst,” said 17-year-old Obed Cruz, Oscar’s son.

The family of five – Cruz and his wife also have a 19-year-old daughter – spent Sunday night in an RV parked in the front yard. Oscar Cruz said they would probably sleep there for the rest of the week.

‘Water kept coming in’

At the peak of the storm Sunday, the single-story home was flooded with about 6 inches of water, Oscar said. To get out, the family had to crawl through a window so water wouldn’t rush in through the front door.

At first, the family used sandbags and plastic bags to keep the water out.

“We did the best that we could, but water kept coming in,” Obed Cruz said.

Cal Fire/Riverside County Fire Department firefighters came to check on the home about 5 p.m. but offered minimal assistance, Obed Cruz said. When the rain got heavier later in the evening, firefighters came around again and offered more help.

Oscar Cruz said he has contacted county officials regarding the small culvert pipe near the home that always gets blocked when there’s heavy rain. He said he has never gotten a response.

Two of Cruz’s neighbors on Marie Street were also flooded, according to a Cal Fire/Riverside County Fire Department news release. Cruz said he was hit the worst.

Other damage

Though the storm brought 1-3 inches of rain to most of Riverside County on Sunday and Monday – on top of several inches from two other storms Thursday and Friday – authorities said they received minimal reports of residential flooding.

In unincorporated areas of Riverside County, the only reports of home flooding came from Cruz and his neighbors in Good Hope, said Riverside County Emergency Services spokeswoman Brooke Federico.

Hemet firefighter Sean Patterson said flooding continued Monday on Cawston Avenue north of Seattle Street. Patterson said that area, which floods whenever rain is heavy, was closed most of Monday while water was pumped out into a nearby field.

Temecula streets have suffered potholes and flooding, said Robert Cardenas, the city’s risk manager and emergency manager. Cardenas credited preparations for last winter’s expected El Niño storms with preventing more damage. Those preparations included cleaning out storm drains and providing sandbags for residents.

The Cal Fire/Riverside County Fire Department responded to 76 reports of flooding between Friday and Sunday. That number accounts for any type of flooding, be it in a building or on a street.

As damage was cleaned up Monday, many city streets that were shut down during Sunday’s storm reopened.

Among the trouble spots was the 91/71 interchange in Corona. The connector between the southbound 91 and eastbound 71, closed Sunday afternoon because of flooding and erosion, didn’t reopen until noon Monday.

Then the ramp from the westbound 91 to the northbound 71 – which was closed for a few hours Sunday – had to be shut down again for about two hours Monday afternoon.

And, motorists seeking to head to the San Bernardino Mountains should do so with caution, as chains are required on those highways.

Heavy snow in mountains

The San Bernardino Mountains bore the brunt of the storm. Hazardous conditions caused most mountain highways to close Sunday; they were reopened to residents only before restrictions were lifted Monday evening.

Still, authorities warned that people shouldn’t travel into the mountains unless they have to.

It was cold enough Monday that snow fell in the Cajon Pass. Caltrans had to send snowplows to clear I-15, but conditions didn’t get bad enough to close the freeway.

Storm conditions knocked out power for nearly 1,500 Southern California Edison customers in the Running Springs area, according to the company’s outage map.

Schools across Riverside and San Bernardino counties closed Monday because of the storm. Most schools were scheduled to reopen today, but not in Big Bear Valley Unified and Rim of the World Unified school districts.

Hemet Unified School District officials said they would assess mountain road conditions this morning and determine if mountain area schools will remain closed.

It was unknown Monday evening if schools in the Snowline Joint Unified School District would reopen.

Forecast

The region should dry out by Wednesday and start to warm up. Days will get even warmer Saturday through Monday because of a high-pressure system, though Johnson noted it will also be a bit windy, especially in the mountains.

A large low-pressure system is expected to move slowly inland through Tuesday, National Weather Service said.

Colder air spreading across Southern California on Monday night was expected to continue bringing scattered showers today, which will be the coldest day of the week with lows ranging from 33 to 39.

Alejandra Molina writes about immigration, race, and religion for the Southern California News Group. In her decade-long career, she has reported how gentrification has affected downtown Santa Ana, how racism contributes the high black infant death rate, and how President Donald Trump is impacting undocumented communities across Southern California.

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